The Geography of Violence

SAN DIEGO - Douglas J. Wiebe, PhD, assistant professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, presented portions of an ongoing study on the daily activities of youth and their risk of being violently injured this week at the 2010 American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego.

Violent injury, the second leading cause of death among US youth, appears to be the end result of a web of factors including alcohol, weapons, and dangerous urban environments.

Using new techniques, a team led by Wiebe is investigating how the nature and whereabouts of daily activities relate to the likelihood of violent injury among youth.

Injured youth are recruited for the study during hospital treatment; uninjured controls are recruited from households across Philadelphia using random digit dialing.

Laptop-based, portable mapping technology is used to interview each youth and construct a graphic, minute-by-minute record of how, when, where, and with whom youths spent time or moved about over the 24-hour time period leading up to their injury. Each youth also reports their activities, including use of alcohol and weapons at each point throughout the same day. Characteristics of streets, buildings, and neighborhood populations are then linked to each point in their daily activities.

"The ultimate goal is to inform communities of place-based risk factors and identify opportunities to make communities safer," says Wiebe. "Simply put, where youth go throughout their day influences the opportunities they have to get hurt. The aim is to identify the most high risk places."

The researchers hope that this type of information can be used to better design and revitalize urban environments for safety.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2013 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2013, Penn Medicine provided $814 million to benefit our community.